Partners and Membership

Current and Past Supporters

SERC's structure as an "engineering teaching hospital" exemplifies our commitment to academic-industry collaboration and technology transfer. Partners can receive assistance with their own research and help foster a well-prepared workforce. Students meanwhile gain depth and breadth of experience far beyond what a purely academic environment can provide. Both support a fundamental SERC goal: enabling the US to advance its competitiveness in the fast-evolving, global space marketplace.

Multiple Dimensions, Mutual Benefits

By ensuring that SERC research is relevant to the industry needs, we help students acquire relevant, leading-edge skills and knowledge. Students benefit from each industry Partner’s unique breadth and depth of expertise, and the combination of exposure to space professionals, interaction with SERC faculty, and hands-on R&D significantly enriches, speeds and reinforces the learning experience.

Partners are invited to supply research projects that may not be feasible within their businesses, fall outside a company’s primary areas of focus, or involve new, exploratory directions. By testing technology directions, hunches and wild ideas -- and building novel prototypes -- in SERC's laboratories and advanced testbeds, Partners quickly receive valid, scientific feedback to steer further research.

Creating the Next-Generation Space Workforce

SERC's Partner/Membership Program offers a range of levels of Memberships and licensing opportunities to support industry needs. Benefits include:

Joint research projects with SERC faculty investigators and students.

Access to SERC students and graduates made up of skills and education experiences across the entire USC campus, outside of VSoE.

Participation in the "hands on" training of next generation engineers within a cross-disciplinary systems environment, to "industry" standards.

A neutral ground to engage in productive interaction and collaboration with other Sponsors/Partners.

Access to both labs and special test equipment that SERC researchers and engineers have available.

Participation/creation of dedicated workshops, conferences and symposia focusing on the 2nd generation of space discipline areas.